Hi,

We will not be going into these versions soon but I want to present some information showing the diversity of this ballad. In the US there's a wide assortment of uses of the "Seventeen come Sunday" stanzas including several songs which use floating verses that are based on, or originated from "Seventeen Comes Sunday." Particularly popular is the "How old are you" stanza and another stanza which seems to be derived from "Fare thee well my bonnie lass/pretty little miss" and has become "Fly around my pretty little miss." Many of these songs are dance tunes or play-party songs. The following titles are associated with these stanzas:

Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss
Pretty Little Miss
Little Betty Ann (Sharp EFSSA)
Shady Grove (tune/lyrics)
Daisy
How Old Are You My Pretty Little Miss?
Wheevily Wheat

As an example I give the Wheevily Wheat B version from "Round the Levee" edited by Stith Thompson, 1916. He comments:

Another version of "Weevily Wheat," collected by Miss Mary S. Brown of Gatesville, Texas, from Wallace Fogle, a famous play-party singer of Coryell County, runs as follows. The boys and girls line up opposite each other; the boys begin swinging at one end, and girls at the other, each swinging his or her partner.

Way down yonder in the maple swamp,
The water's deep and muddy.
There I spied my pretty little miss,
O there I spied my honey.

How old are you, my little miss,
How old are you, my honey?
She answered with a ha-ha laugh,
"I'll be sixteen next Sunday."

The higher up the cherry tree,
Riper grows the cherry,
Sooner a boy courts a girl,
Sooner they will marry,

So run along home, my pretty little miss,
Run along home, my honey,
Run along home, my pretty miss,
I'll be right there next Sunday.

Papa's gone to New York town,
Mama's gone to Dover,
Sister's worn her new slippers out
A-kicking Charley over.

Wheevily Wheat is a floating title but should have the Wheevily Whaet stanza in it-- in the preceding lyrics it does not appear. The last line is a reference to "Bonnie Sweet Prince Charlie" who, in a bizarre twist, is part of Robert Burn's song that introduces "pretty little pink" also related, although vaguely to the "How old are you" songs in the US. "Charlie" is Prince Charles Edward Stewart, 1720-1788 and the related songs have the "Over the water to Charlie" lines. The following titles are play-party songs that are sometimes related:

Bile Dem Cabbage Down
Pretty Little Pink
Charlie's Neat
Coffee grows on white oak trees

Here are the standard floating stanzas in Tales and Songs of Southern Illinois by Charles Neely:

Come trip with me, my pretty little miss,
Come trip with me, my honey;
Come trip with me, my pretty little miss;
I'll be sixteen next Sunday.

How old are you, my pretty little miss,
How old are you, my honey?
She answered me with a "Tee, hee, hee"
"I'll be sixteen next Sunday."

Another association with the "How old are you" stanza is found in Child 243 Gypsy David/Davy (House Carpenter). This is the most popular House Carpenter text, as recorded by Carter Family in 1940-- and widely copied (originally recorded by Cliff Carlisle 1939, covers include Bascom Lunsford and later Doc Watson). Here are the first three stanzas, the second is the "How old are you" stanza:

Black Jack David

Black Jack David came ridin' through the woods,
And he sang so loud and gaily.
Made the hills around him ring,
And he charmed the heart of a lady.
And he charmed the heart of a lady.

"How old are you, my pretty little miss?
How old are you, my honey?"
She answered him with a silly little smile,
"I'll be sixteen next Sunday.
I'll be sixteen next Sunday."

"Come go with me, my pretty little miss.
Come go with, me my honey.
I'll take you across the deep blue sea,
Where you never shall want for money.
Where you never shall want for money."

* * * *

Richie